The Sarcophagus Legion II

[HorizonsDream]

Imani places her hands on her knees and bends down a bit as if it was going to help her in any way as they travel through the desert. Despite Locky's efforts, she still looks pretty bad off. She looks up at Thuskar through her veil, and takes a deep breath to compose herself.

"The mountain is called the Black Plume now, but it was originally called Mount Qusa ten years ago," she says. "The story is that a group of dwarves were exiled from their Mountain Kingdom for the worship of Torghan the Avenger, and the dwarves made the mountain their new home. Torghan purposely lead the dwarves to this mountain as he wanted the silver within it, and he put his worshipers to work. Though, the exiled dwarves couldn't keep up with the demand from their God, so they started buying slaves from the Midnight Jackals to keep up with the demand. Sadly, the human slaves didn't last very long most of the time due to the soot and the awful mining conditions. To keep up with the demand from the dwarves, the Midnight Jackals went on a raiding rampage. I can't count the number of times the Midnight Jackals raided my tribe for slaves," she explains with a small sigh.

"With the help of the new slaves, the dwarves ended up digging a little too deep and they came across group of dark dwarves. The exiled dwarves and the dark dwarves broke out into war over the silver within the mine, but ultimately the dark dwarves won. Ironically, the exiled dwarves were turned into slaves by the dark dwarves. Though, it seemed the dark dwarves really didn't know what they were doing when it came to mining silver, so in the end they gave up on the whole endeavor and left the mountain. Now, the Black Plume is said to be haunted by the dead slaves and various other creatures that have taken up residence there. Not to mention that it is pitch black inside."

Imani takes another drink of her water. "Though, no matter what it might be haunted by, it will be ten times cooler inside."

Local History Check (13, pass)

[Breila]

"Just the shade will be a huge relief" Babushka comments. She is using the break to water the animals and drink herself.
"Do you think we can continue to reach the mountains? If we rest in the shade, it will do us much better than if we try to rest here."

[JadedDM]

"The tracks seem to lead to that location, so maybe we're heading there anyway," Ulster speculates.

"Hmm, that might make sense," Thuskar says. "If the Midnight Jackals used to deal with the dwarves that once lived here, and it's now abandoned, as the princess says...they might be using it as a hideout or base. Or at the very least, a place to stop and rest."

[Breila]

"And there are not many places to stop and rest here in the desert..." Babushka observes.
"This also means we have to worry about our safety. Approaching from the desert, we stand out to anyone keeping watch. We should leave the track in time before that point and go either left or right to reach the mountains elsewhere. I don't think I need to point out that we're in no shape to fight a group of rested guards."

[JadedDM]

"Sounds like a good plan," Thuskar says.

"Unless there's only one entrance into the mine," Ulster points out.

[Breila]

Babushka smiles as she answers. "Oh, I don't want to go into the mine. At least not yet. I want to get into the safety of the mountain's shade and rest there at least until nightfall. Then, in the cool of the night, I could go on a scouting mission to see where the entrance is and if the tracks lead to it. Remember, I can see in the dark."

[HorizonsDream]

"While the shade will be a little better, it is still going to be extremely hot until nightfall," Imani points out. "We are better off entering the mountain," she explains. "Once inside, we can rest up, perhaps heal up a bit, and then continue forward."

[Breila]

"Yes, but we might walk directly into our enemies' arms, if there's only the one entrance or if they keep watch. They can spot us far more easily approaching from the flat desert than we can see them in front of the mountains." Babushka sounds cautious. "With a little luck, there will be deep clefts and valleys nearby that will provide suitable shelter."

[Jenara]

"I can go and scout too!" Locky pipes up, lifting her head. "We should move on as far as we can, then we can decide what to do about the mine."

"I will watch you, but I can't heal you, so please be careful." She stood silent while they all talked, obviously still upset with everyone. "But the mountains sound great, anything cooler than this would be nice."

[Breila]

"Jerrard, Thuskar, Ulster, what do you think? Should we go directly to the cool of the mines as Imani suggests, or leave the track and look for cover and some cool elsewhere first?" Babushka asks their male companions.

[Jerrard]

"Can we make it? That is the question, none of us are fairing all that well out here." Jerrard responds quickly, his mind wandered. "I would suggest we move on for an hour, and see how we fare."

Checking his weapon Jerrard looks towards the mountains, and the welcoming cool they offered.

[JadedDM]

Agreeing to this, the party pushes on for another hour, another mile.

They call for a halt before they get too close, but the entrance to the mine can be seen now. It's a massive set of stone double doors, hanging wide open. There is no sign of anyone standing guard, at least on the outside. The tracks they were following lead straight toward the entrance.

"Why leave the doors open?" Thuskar asks aloud. "Leaving them wide open like that is just asking for anyone to just waltz right in."

"Why don't we check?" Ulster asks. He looks to Jerrard. "Back in the caverns, you made Locky invisible. Can you do something like that again? We could walk right in and look around, and nobody would ever know."

=========

It is 110 F.

Everyone suffers a temporary -1 to STR, -1 DEX, -2 to CON and -2 to hit in this heat.

Because Locky and Babushka are riding, not walking, they get a -1 to -3 (rolled randomly) modifier to any damage they take from heat exhaustion.

4:15 PM - 5:15 PM
Locky makes two CON checks (1d20+1): 18, 4. Locky takes (3-2) 1 damage.
Babushka makes two CON checks (1d20+1): 14, 18. Babushka takes (6-5) 1 damage.
Jerrard makes two CON checks (1d20+2): 22, 12. Jerrard takes 3 damage.
Ulster makes two CON checks (1d20+2): 4, 5. No damage.
Thuskar makes two CON checks (1d20+2): 6, 10. No damage.
Imani makes two CON checks (1d20+1): 7, 11. Imani takes 3 damage.
Dekker is protected by an Endure Heat spell.
Artemis makes two CON checks (1d20+2): 14, 8. No damage.

It is now 5:15 PM (Eleventh Watch). The party has traveled 1 mile.

[Jerrard]

"I was thinking something similar myself." Jerrard replies, "I can only make one person Invisible for now." He laughs looking at Locky. "Locky appears to have suffered least due to the heat, I would suggest she become invisible once more, while we all find somewhere to rest." He wipes his brow with his sleeve.

"I can barely concentrate, the heat is getting unbearable." He looks at the group, "Babuskha you should wait by the entrance. Unless you have a better idea?"

(Really entrust their lives to a Kender once more.)

[Breila]

Babuska agrees. "Yes, that sounds like a good plan. Make Locky invisible, so she can go straight ahead and scout the entrance. The rest of us should go elsewhere, look, over there to the left there's a cleft in the mountains that could shelter us almost as well as a cavern. Locky can meet us there when she's done.

And Thuskar, maybe the doors are open simply because there's no one who knows how to operate the mechanism, they're probably to heavy to close by muscle alone."

[HorizonsDream]

"Are you afraid that people are going to be waiting behind that door for ambush?" Imani asks curiously. "If there were people watching us from here, they would have attacked by now. We look about ready to drop dead as it is, so archers wouldn't have had a hard time picking us off, " she points out as she wipes some sweat off her forehead. "We can sit within the entrance while you allow Locky to scout seems perfectly fine. We can set up a watch, let the animals rest within the cool air of the mountain, and we can get some rest as well," she says. "I understand your need for caution, but my need of cool air is stronger than my fear of what might be behind those doors."